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P. E. SINGER. IIEYED MUSIGAL INSTRUMENT AGTUATED BY ELECTRICITY.

No. 492,563. Patented Feb. 28, 1893.

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Unirse STATES PARIS E. SINGER, OF LONDON, ENGLAND.

SPECIFICATION forming part f Letters Patent N0. 492,563, dated February 28, 1893.

Application filed June 17, 1892. Serial No. 437,053. (No modell) To aZZ whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, Panis EUGENE SINGER, of 6 Victoria Road, Kensington, Londomin the county of Middlesex, England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Keyed Musical Instruments Actuated byElectro-Magnets, of which the following is a specification.

k'lhisinvention relates to an improvement in keyed musical instruments -0f the type for which I have applied for Letters Patent, such applications bearing respectively the Serial Nos. 436,907 and 436,908. In such instruments, the notes produced by the vibrating bodies employed,the strings, for eXample,-are initiated or prolonged by the action of the electro-magnets, which are put into circuit by the depression of their respective keys, and are thrown out of circuit on the release of those keys, the action of the magnets upon the strings being controlled by rotating or vibrating commutators.

The object of the present invention is to introduce into my new instruments, facilities for playing which are afforded to the organist, in respect of varying the quality of the sounds produced, or of combining` those qualities, and the production of octaves and harmonics of the initial note, on the depression of one key, instead of the depression of the several keys which correspond to the notes sounded.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 shows, in diagram, the means for bringing into circuit, at the pleasure of the player, four qualities of soundingbodies, corresponding to four stops of an organ.-In this iigure, s, SI, s, sm are four switch rods, the construction of which is best shown at Fig. 2, their object being to throw into circuit, the magnets ci, e, em, en, of the several sets of sounding bodies, al, au, am, an, to which the switch rods respectively belong.

The switch rods are made of wood or other non-conducting material, partially surrounded by metallic bands,one for each note of the instrument.-These bands are severally embraced by a pair of contact springs yl l',

the springs l being connected with their respective magnets el, c, cm, en, and the springs 1 with the key .cp-The obgects of these switch rods, it will be understood, is, by in troducing a third or additional break into the circuit (one break in the instrument, as originally designed, being at the key g, and the second at the commutator Z), to bring into circuit or throw out of circuit, at pleasure, the magnets of the several so-called stops or series of sounding bodies al, au, am, cm1 com tained in the instrument.. The switch rods will receive an axial motion from the player (to throw the stops into or out of use) by any one of the well known devices employed by organ builders for the like purposes. From this illustration, it will be readily understood how harmonics and octaves may be obtained by the introduction of switch rods that will couple up electrically the notes intended to be sounded by the depression of one keyf-It will only be necessary to connect the switch belonging to a note, say C, with the switch of its octave, so that when a current is established, it will divide, and go, not only to the magnet corresponding with the depressed key, but also to the magnet which sounds the octave above or below as the case may be.- If all the keys of the instrument are thus brought into connection with the magnets which sound the octave above or the octave below, and two switch rods are provided for putting the keys into communication with their lower or upper octaves, then the octave of any note within the compass of the instrument may be sounded by the depression of one key.,-Similarly, if each note is electrically connected with its octave above, and a switch is provided for throwing in the fifths, a corresponding result will be obtained.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is l. In a keyed musical instrument in which electronnagnets are used for setting or sustaining the sounding bodies in vibration, the combination therewith of two or more kinds of sounding bodies for producing dilferent qualities of sound (corresponding to stops in the organ), such sounding bodies being brought into relation with each other by axially-moving switches placed under the com- IOO mand of the player, and embraced by elastic with the circuits of the lower or upper octave, contact pieces situate Within the circuits of the fifth, or other harmonic division of the their respective electro-niagnets, as set forth. scale, as set forth, and serving to produce oc- 2. In a keyed musical instrument in which taves or harmonics of the notes sounded by 5 electro-magnets are used for setting or susthe depression of the keys of the manual.

taining the sounding bodies in vibration, the

combination therewith of axiallymoving PARIS E' SINUER' switches, embraced by elastic Contact pieces, Witnesses: situate Within the circuits of their respective H. K. lVI-IITE,

xo electro-magnets, and electrically connected A. lV. SPUCKMAN. 

